Kill Cloud Ninja

At this moment, the other Cloud Ninja quickly formed hand seals and shouted, "Lightning Style: Lightning Ball!"

Tokiju frowned, quickly side-stepping to narrowly dodge the lightning-imbued blade swung by the first Cloud Ninja.

Just then, three golden spheres of lightning flew directly toward Tokiju.

Seeing this, Tokiju immediately rolled backward, barely managing to evade the first lightning ball.

Back in the sealing space, because there was no gravity, he and Uchiha Hikari had always fought while floating.

Tokiju was truly unaccustomed to this kind of grounded combat.

Seeing Tokiju dodge the first lightning ball, the Cloud Ninja immediately manipulated the remaining two, continuing his assault.

Meanwhile, the sword-wielding Cloud Ninja continued to press forward, relentlessly slashing at Tokiju with his crackling, lightning-covered blade.

Observing this, Tokiju's gaze sharpened. Seizing a gap in the ninja's swings, he quickly formed hand seals and pressed his palms against the man's body.

"Sealing Technique: Binding Seal!"

As Tokiju's voice fell, countless black runes instantly crawled over the Cloud Ninja's entire body, locking down all his movements.

Tokiju then shoved the Cloud Ninja forward, using the man's own body to block the remaining two lightning balls.

Zzzzt!

The lightning balls exploded, leaving the sword-wielding Cloud Ninja charred black and emitting plumes of smoke.

For a Cloud Ninja, these lightning balls were only minor injuries, but due to the Binding Seal, he remained completely unable to move.

Seeing this, the eyes of the Cloud Ninja who had used the ninjutsu cleared, realizing they had kicked a steel plate today.

Originally, their orders were to sneak into the Land of Fire to investigate border defenses and troop movements.

They had assumed the mission wouldn't be too difficult, as all three of them were Special Jōnin with decent sensory abilities.

But just as they entered the Land of Fire, they unexpectedly sensed the sound of someone nearby.

It was strange; they could hear a voice, yet they sensed nothing—no presence, no chakra fluctuations.

Suspecting something amiss, they decided to investigate, thinking it best to eliminate any potential threat.

Upon arriving, they found it was just a small, ordinary child catching fish.

Because this infiltration could not be discovered—lest they fail to return home alive—they decided to eliminate Tokiju as a potential threat to ensure no accidents occurred.

They had intended to simply throw a kunai and kill him, ending the matter.

But they hadn't expected the target to dodge.

And then, the events just now transpired.

As for why the Cloud Ninjas thought Tokiju was an ordinary person?

That brings us to the "Breath-Locking Seal" that Tokiju had developed previously.

Ever since he created this sealing technique capable of completely masking his own presence, he had made a habit of casting it on himself whenever he had the chance.

The goal was to prevent his aura from leaking and exposing his true strength.

As for the potency of this seal?

Tokiju didn't know if the Byakugan could see through it, but he knew for certain that Uchiha Hikari's Mangekyō Sharingan could not.

Seeing his teammate taken down in just a few exchanges, the remaining Cloud Ninja turned to flee.

He had only one thought in his mind: escape, and ensure the intelligence was sent back.

Although the person before him wore no headband, his features were distinctly those of the Land of Fire; he was definitely a local.

Damn the Land of Fire, why do they always produce such geniuses!

The boy was clearly young, at most six or seven years old.

The ninjutsu he used was incomprehensible; this intelligence had to be reported, or once the boy grew up, he would surely become a great enemy of Kumogakure.

Seeing the man running, Tokiju started to pursue, but he quickly stopped in his tracks.

His Mind's Eye of the Kagura had sensed a familiar chakra standing directly on the Cloud Ninja's escape route.

Tokiju shrugged, thinking to himself, I'll leave it to you.

The Cloud Ninja sprinted away, but before he had gone far, he was blocked by a young girl with glowing red eyes.

Seeing his path obstructed, the Cloud Ninja tried to change direction.

But before he could react, he found himself locking eyes with Uchiha Hikari.

In an instant, the Cloud Ninja's expression went blank and vacant.

Clearly, he had fallen under a genjutsu.

In the moment he was caught, the Cloud Ninja had only one thought: Damn the Uchiha!

Seeing the man ensnared, Uchiha Hikari immediately drew a kunai from her pocket and plunged it directly into his heart.

Her line of thinking was that for intelligence, a single living captive was more than enough.

She did not draw her kunai afterward, as avoiding a mess of blood was more efficient that way.

Having finished this, she dragged the Kumogakure ninja toward the spot where Tokiju had been fighting just moments ago.

Upon arriving, she saw Tokiju and Shizune interrogating the sealed Kumogakure ninja together, though they did not seem particularly skilled at it.

As for Tsunade, she had left the moment she saw Tokiju blow up the first Kumogakure ninja.

Hemophobia, after all—one had to be understanding.

Seeing Uchiha Hikari return, Tokiju immediately called out, "Hikari, hurry over and interrogate this guy; we really don't know what to do with him."

Neither Tokiju nor Shizune were actually very good at extracting intelligence.

Shizune was a medical student, after all, and had spent these years wandering around with Tsunade; she had barely killed anyone, let alone learned how to interrogate.

And as for Tokiju?

He was a model youth from the twenty-first century, and he knew absolutely nothing about interrogation techniques.

Uchiha Hikari nodded, walked up to the sealed Kumogakure ninja, stared into his eyes, and began casting a genjutsu with her back turned to Shizune.

After a round of interrogation within the genjutsu, Uchiha Hikari looked at Tokiju and said, "They are scouts sent by Kumogakure. They ran into you as soon as they crossed the border; they haven't even managed to gather any intelligence yet."

"Uh..." Tokiju was left speechless upon hearing this.

At this moment, Shizune, who was standing to the side, spoke up: "In that case, we should hurry back and report this to Lady Tsunade."

Uchiha Hikari nodded at her words and promptly slit the throat of the Kumogakure ninja before her.

She then piled his corpse together with the other two, intending to use the Great Fireball Technique to destroy the evidence.

But just as Uchiha Hikari was about to weave the hand signs, Tokiju immediately stopped her: "Wait a second, I haven't looted the bodies yet!"

Saying this, Tokiju rubbed his hands together and began searching the three Kumogakure ninjas for anything of value.

This included three ninja swords of decent quality, a number of kunai and shuriken, and eight Explosive Tags; as for banknotes or the like, there were none.

Seeing Tokiju's greedy appearance, Uchiha Hikari and Shizune were both left speechless.

Once Tokiju finished searching the bodies, Uchiha Hikari quickly wove hand signs and shouted, "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A massive fireball erupted from Uchiha Hikari's mouth, completely incinerating the three Kumogakure corpses and destroying all traces of them.